Meet Obama’s pick to run the VA — Insurgent group declares caliphate in Iraq, Syria — Vehicle battle heats up

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MEET OBAMA’S PICK TO RUN THE VA: Businessman Robert McDonald — set to be nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Shinseki as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs — is a West Point graduate and former Army captain credited with overseeing a major expansion of Procter and Gamble, which he led from 2009 to 2013. His background as an industry executive is a departure from the previous two VA secretaries, Shinseki and James Peake, who both spent their careers in the military. Here’s McDonald’s Procter and Gamble bio: http://bit.ly/1q6IAiF

His selection comes a month after Shinseki resigned under pressure and is set to be officially announced today, reports POLITICO’s Jennifer Epstein. The nomination also comes after Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson and White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors briefed the president on the VA’s management problems. The agency, Nabors concluded, has a “corrosive culture.”

McDonald has a record of supporting Republican candidates, Epstein reports, noting that he contributed to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and has also given to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). In a statement, Boehner praised McDonald as “the kind of person who is capable of implementing the kind of dramatic systemic change that is badly needed and long overdue at the VA.” More here: http://politi.co/1k3pmEy

HAPPY MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we’re wishing a happy birthday to former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who turned 76 on Saturday. Email us at awright@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @abwrig and @morningdefense

THE HOUSE AND SENATE ARE OUT THIS WEEK for the Fourth of July.

HAPPENING TODAY: The president plans to ask Congress for more than $2 billion in emergency funds to respond to the influx of immigrants entering the country from Mexico, The Associated Press reports. The question for defense contractors is whether the request will include money to buy more border-security equipment and support services. http://bit.ly/1iRmEqT

ALSO TODAY: Pentagon officials are holding a background briefing at the Pentagon on the military’s strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction. And at 1:15 p.m., NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove is holding a press conference at the Pentagon on the U.S. European Command.

QUESTION OF THE DAY — HOW’S CONGRESS GOING TO DEAL WITH THE OCO REQUEST? In years past, the White House’s request for Overseas Contingency Operations funds was handled as part of the regular authorization and appropriations process. But this year’s request, delivered to Capitol Hill on Thursday, came months later than usual — leading to questions about how the House and Senate will take it up.

“We’re not sure yet how it will be handled,” one Senate Armed Services aide tells us. “This year’s OCO request was delayed by changing events, and so we’re getting it much later than the budget request. It could still be included in both authorization and appropriations, or it could be handled more like an emergency appropriation and simply handled as a stand-alone appropriations bill. It’s just too soon to tell.”

BARBARA LEE, SCOTT RIGELL CIRCULATE IRAQ LETTER: Political odd couple Reps. Barbara Lee of California, an anti-war Democrat, and Scott Rigell of Virginia, a conservative Republican, have found a common cause in urging the president to seek congressional authorization before taking any military action in Iraq. The two are asking colleagues to sign a letter to the president saying “the use of military force in Iraq is something the Congress should fully debate and authorize.”

INSURGENT GROUP DECLARES CALIPHATE IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, via Bloomberg’s Alaa Shahine: “The al-Qaeda breakaway group fighting in Syria and Iraq declared an Islamic caliphate in areas under its control, an assertion of authority meant to consolidate power in the two conflict-ravaged countries and erase the borders between them. The so-called state spreads from Aleppo in northern Syria to the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, according to an audio recording purportedly by the group’s spokesman posted on websites and forums linked to radical Islamists.

“In the audio recording, the group said it has appointed 'emirs and courts' and imposed taxes in territories under its control.” http://bloom.bg/1lIeO2m

TOP TALKER — A WARNING ON BLACKWATER, via James Risen of The New York Times: “Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: ‘that he could kill’ the government’s chief investigator and ‘no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,’ according to department reports.

“After returning to Washington, the chief investigator wrote a scathing report to State Department officials documenting misconduct by Blackwater employees and warning that lax oversight of the company, which had a contract worth more than $1 billion to protect American diplomats, had created ‘an environment full of liability and negligence.’” http://nyti.ms/1mxl0pf

INDUSTRY INTEL #1 — CONTRACTORS QUESTION LOW-COST CONTRACTS, by POLITICO’s Leigh Munsil: “Defense contractors and analysts report that they’re seeing an increasing number of companies bidding such low prices on services contracts that they can’t execute the work as promised, to the frustration of the Pentagon and incumbent companies. It’s the downside, industry observers say, to a contracting environment that has become increasingly cost-focused as the Pentagon tightens its belt.” http://politico.pro/1k3b3ji

INDUSTRY INTEL #2 — VEHICLE BATTLE HEATS UP, via Paul McLeary of Defense News: “The US Army is threatening to slash modernization funding for Stryker, Abrams and Bradley vehicles if the service is forced to halt a $10 billion program to replace thousands of M113 infantry carriers. The possibility of a pause to the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program was raised last week, when news surfaced that language might be included in a Senate defense appropriations bill that would force the Army to rewrite its requirements.” http://bit.ly/1z1slHy

MAKING MOVES — PETER SINGER IS LEAVING BROOKINGS: “Wired for War” author Peter Singer is leaving the Brookings Institution, where he ran the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, to become a strategist at the New America Foundation. He starts in the fall and will spend his summer working on personal projects, including his technology consulting firm NeoLuddite. “I am both excited by the new opportunity and grateful to the team at Brookings for making my time here for the last 12 (!) years such an incredible experience,” Singer says in an email.

DESSERT — PILOT LANDS ON STOOL: Watch a video of an AV-8B Harrier pilot whose front landing gear had malfunctioned lower his aircraft onto a stool on the deck of the USS Bataan: http://huff.to/UXZTqz

SPEED READ

— On ABC's "This Week,” the president says the government is trying to keep an eye on terrorist recruits with European passports. POLITICO: http://politi.co/1vluVUm

— The White House’s request for funds to train Syrian rebels is the administration’s latest effort to turn to Congress for some political cover on the issue. POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: http://politico.pro/1x1W6Gq

— The violence in Iraq presents what could be the best opportunity for the president to achieve his goal of rewriting the Authorization for Use of Military Force. Defense News: http://bit.ly/1x3KLWd

— A Marine declared a deserter a decade ago after he disappeared in Iraq has turned himself in. The Associated Press: http://wapo.st/1qJ9UTs

— The Iraqi government says Russia is providing 12 warplanes to the military operation against the Sunni insurgency in what some consider a reproach of the U.S. for being too slow to supply American F-16s and attack helicopters. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1mbAsNN

— A new belt that incorporates “vibrotactile” technology could allow soldiers to navigate conflict zones with nodes that buzz on specific parts of the body, indicating where a soldier should go during a military operation. Military Times: http://goo.gl/X5kOMC

— House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says the militia leader accused of organizing the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, is being “compliant but not cooperative.” Reuters: http://reut.rs/TIa5ma

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